Sir Andrew's Aces & Eights Page

01

A game As Expansive As the Old West!

The Old West has inspired many a person, as the tales of cowboys and Indians, mountain men and railroads, saloons, coyotes and other people, places and things are part of American folklore.

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Aces & Eights will let you explore many of these aspects, because its authors grew up on that folklore, loved it and enjoyed prior attempts to make a western game. They decided to make a game as big as the West; in this cowpoke's opinion, they succeeded.

02

A Game Which Is About More Than Killing Them All and Taking Their Stuff.

There are many roleplaying games out there, but the games I enjoy most focus on things beyond just defeating foes in mortal combat and taking their stuff. Aces & Eights, because it is a game built for long-term play in the West, gives you a chance to move beyond just rolling up to your foe's door, kicking it in and killing them which is the trap of so many other games.

 

03

Great Alt History Departure Point

The major departure point in Aces & Eights is the election of 1844. Instead of the expansionist dark horse Democrat James K. Polk winning the election and precipitating the Mexican-American War and nearly driving the country to war with Canada, the Whig candidate, Henry 'The Great Compromiser' Clay, won.  Without the vast western states and their mineral wealth added to the 'free' state group by the Mexican-American War and without the annexation of Texas, the U.S. Civil War happens earlier ends up in a stalemate. The Confederate States of America survive in a negotiated solution that resembles the most historically accepted likely victory condition for the South.

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04

I Get To Play Out The Turner Thesis

Frederick Jackson Turner, the University of Wisconsin history professor famous for writing about the American frontier and American civilization, argued that American democracy and civilization is recreated continuously on the frontier. Aces & Eights lets you be the town builder, the trapper, the railroad builder and thus you get to see if you can build democracy on the frontier and adapt existing American institutions to local conditions.

 

05

No Magic Or Ultratech To Get In the Way, But Magic Or Ultratech Can Be Added

Aces & Eights is a realistic game without a magic system. Unlike some other western games, there is no assumption of any kind of magic other than the guy pulling rabbits out of a hat. This means you can play the game as close to real history. If you want to add in magic or ultratech so you can have ghosts, ghost shirts and western legends, you add in what you want. If you want steampunk tech or want to run Cowboys v. Aliens, you can do that your way.

 

06

You Can Use Western History and Borderlands Studies In the Game

Since western events prior to the point of historical departure are still the same and the game designers focused on the macro level when discussing history, you can take historical nuggets from your research in Western History into the game. Aces & Eights is an alternate version of our world, so weather, geography and other things don't change. Although there is not a deep development of areas outside the U.S. West, the rules for frontier activities and town buildings would work just as well for a game set in the pampas of South America, the savannah of Africa, or in Australia.

 

07

Detailed Yet Intuitive Combat System That Makes You Carefully Consider Actions

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Aces & Eights, like some other games, uses a target for shooting. The Shot Clock is lined up with your target and then you roll a die, add modifiers and draw a poker card to see if you hit what you were aiming for. All shots are aimed at your location of choice, so cover is accounted for because if someone is ducking behind the horse trough, you'll have to either shoot through that water container or shoot at what part of your target is exposed.

 

In addition to the shooting rules, Aces & Eights uses the Count Up, a system which keeps the pressure on. Do you shoot faster and risk missing, or do you stay calm and cool and aim deliberately? If you want to move, you can start moving at any time and how fast you move makes sense based on how we move in life--you start slow and eventually get up to a sprint. If you're doing something when a fight breaks out, how long it takes you to get into the fight is the same amount of time as in real life, pardner! So, don't be making a snack while the rest of the group is out in a gunbattle in the street.

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08

Character Creation System With Diminishing Returns

Aces & Eights has a character system with diminishing returns. It makes you make tough choices in two primary ways.

First, unlike other games that have disadvantages that give extra points and thus lead to characters who are so saddled with physical, psychological and social problems that you wonder how they survived, Aces & Eights uses diminishing point totals for each disadvantage. Your character doesn't get more powerful by being more of a cripple or more insane or more hated by society, as each disadvantage after the first is worth fewer points than on the list. This keeps people from playing characters that make the titular character in Monk look flawless.

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The other diminishing return is in the skill system. In both the original version and in the new edition, Aces & Eights: Reloaded, it gets harder to improve your skill the better you get at something. So, if you really want a character who is an expert, you must trade off expertise for being less skilled at other things.

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09

Profession Paths

The main way characters improve mechanically in Aces & Eights is the profession path. Profession paths are things you do in a particular profession to show more and more mastery, such as a lawman starting out getting a job to arresting more dangerous criminals or a doctor going from starting a practice in a tent or hotel room to building a thriving business. You can switch profession paths every time you play, so like many in the West, if you get a hankering for a change of profession, you can start again.

10

The Art

Most of the art in Aces & Eights is from public domain sources of great Western art, like Russell and Remington paintings. The art which is not public domain fits the western theme and helps set the stage for the game.

And that is why I love this game. Check out my other pages for more resources and have some fun in the West!

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